Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Thursday said newly appointed Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel was more qualified for the post than his predecessor Raghuram Rajan who did not have the “general equilibrium regarding economics”. The senior politician said, “He [Patel] has a PhD in economics and a degree from Yale. Raghuram Rajan had no degree in economics. After engineering, he did management.”

Swamy had earlier expressed his approval for the new RBI chief, saying it would be “idiotic” to criticise him for originally being from Kenya. In May, he had asked for Rajan to be “sent back to Chicago” as he was not “apt for our country”, and had criticised him severely. The BJP leader said, “Urjit Patel has been the deputy governor for so many years now, so this will not be new for him. I have high hopes from him,” The Indian Express reported.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved Patel’s appointment as the 24th governor of the central bank on August 20. Rajan had announced on June 18 that he will return to academia and not take up a second term as RBI governor after his tenure ends on September 4.